Tag Archives: monsters

You certainly cannot accuse the burgeoning Cloverfield cinematic universe (for that undoubtedly is what it now is) of resting on its laurels. Ten years and three films in, we have been treated to three distinct and intriguing genre pictures released in three distinct and intriguing ways. For those who thought 2008’s ground-breaking viral marketing-tease and 2015’s quick-drop cinema rollout too longwinded, Paradox dropped onto streaming giant Netflix just FOUR HOURS after its trailer debuted during this year’s Super Bowl. Wow.

Having released their first mass-market paperback in 1947 (Ten Stories by Rudyard Kipling), publishing giants Pan are this year celebrating their 70th anniversary with a series of reissues of their most popular and iconic titles. Piquing my interest among the twenty classics receiving a new lease of life was a reprint of the first ever volume of collected horror stories; 22 macabre tales from authors renowned (Bram Stoker, Peter Fleming, C.S. Forester) and unheard of.

Expanded from last year’s water-testing micro-run (click the following links for my 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 reviews), digital channel Dave’s original fantasy sitcom makes a welcome return next week, once again nestled in a post-Red Dwarf XII Thursday night slot. “The Trial” follows directly on from “Mr. Wuffles”‘s cliffhanger ending, in which modern day office temp-out-of-water Brian Weaver (James The Inbetweeners Buckley) has inadvertently pissed off a legion of shell-backed Snail people by kicking their ambassador, which he had mistaken for a football.

In 15th century Wallachia, an aggrieved Vlad Dracula Tepes (Graham The HobbitMcTavish) sets his night hordes loose on the provinces of Romania after the Church burns his scientist wife, Lisa (Emily Swallow), at the stake for witchcraft. Giving the civilians one year to leave, Dracula unleashes his demonic creatures on a defiant and sceptical people. The hell-beasts tear through the land city-by-city, night-by-night, and the Wallachian’s only chance of redemption comes in the form of a disgraced drunkard.

Aside from the location (China), time period (medieval) and headline actor (Matt Damon) – all discernible from the poster – I went into this mega-budgeted adventure from House of the Flying Daggers director Zhang Yimou blind, unsure whether to expect a dour drama akin to The Last Samurai or an action-packed choreography-fest like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. What I categorically was not expecting was The Mummy Returns… again!

Arriving in a blaze of hype and publicity this third recent-times spin-off from the BBC’s flagship sci-fi drama may suffer from the most bland and unimaginative title ever, but it does boast perhaps the strongest continual link to its parent show, set as it is in Coal Hill Academy, a stalwart of the long-running serial right up to its most recent run, with Clara Oswald and Danny Pink both teaching there, and even the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) briefly becoming a caretaker.